Hello, I am looking at 2 backhoes. One is a 93 JD 310d with 12000 hours extandahoe 4wd $8000.. The other is a 198x case 580c 2wd extandahoe with 8000 hours on the clock but the cable broke and I don’t know when. It needs brakes and 2 hydraulic cylinders rebuilt $6000. Both run good and strong I’m primarily buying this machine to dig in my backyard.. nothing crazy. My yard is a hill so stability and 4wd would be nice. I’m having trouble deciding between the 2 machines. I can do the brakes and have a guy to help me with the hydraulics so I’m thinking the price difference is only around 1000 dollars for the newer JD. Can anyone offer any insight?
Personally I would not buy anything with that many hours and I would keep looking. If you are telling me you are sold on these two and aren’t changing your mind, I would take the JD. The hours are super high but you can’t add 4x4 to the Case. Also it’s many years older, brakes sometime aren’t an easy fix, and probably have more than just that wrong.
Hi cosmaar, I agree. The hours are high, I have known the guy selling the 580 for years now and trust him that it’s a good machine but the headache of running through the brakes right off the bat alone is worth the money to me. I haven’t looked at the JD in person yet and I will be going tomorrow. If I can get a slightly better price I might get it. Not in much of a rush. Anything to look for outside of fluids where they should/shouldn’t be? Any tests? Thanks, Richie.
I cannot stress enough...... you have to get the machine up to temperature before you actually see how it truly operates. Run it through your normal functions, use the hoe, use the loader, shift through all the gears. Don’t be scared to actually run it and put it through the tests. If the guy doesn’t let you, then I would pass. I’m not sure of your site conditions but I wouldn’t purchase anything 2wd unless you are working with flat ground. I get stuck with 4wd enough on my property to say if I bought a 2wd I would be screwed.
If you were buying from me, there'd be thousands of hours idling. I use a backhoe as a welding bench, positioner etc. I don't like crawling under stuff to weld it. My loader bucket doubles as a welding booth. Sometimes, I chain an object to the rear bucket to give a greater range of motion. I have good friends in the excavation business. They are true believers in not interrupting a diesel engine. They start once a day, and don't necessarily shut it off at night. They have an IH TD7E crawler with over 30000 hours, much of it idling. I'd look at joints, leaks, welds, rust, soot in exhaust. Oil color on engine dipstick is important. Oil pressure matters! I'd climb over a mountain of 2 WD backhoes in favor of 4WD. Bucket condition can be telling, but neither of these has any original buckets. I bought a JD 410 once, Both buckets were perfect. Tractor had 3000 hours, but was 22 years old. No discernable wear, only paint showed it's age. Half hour after starting, hydraulic power trailed off to zero. Eventually, I diagnosed it as three spool bores in the six section backhoe valve were bored too big at the factory. This hog never did function! Sections were not available, only a $7000. new valve was offered. I bought a valve from other manufacturer, but it didn't fit the joysticks. I spent two days building a new control mechanism. I can't be happy without a thumb. I believe the Case has a female extend a hoe. JD has a male extension. Very complex to thumb a male extend a hoe. JD in that age range is much smoother to operate than Case. My Case dealer is incredible with parts & advice when a repair is beyond me. My JD dealer laughs at me when I say a machine is old. I have to be a detective to get parts. I had a port relief valve fail on a JD410C. I looked up the part number: NLA. JD parts people say tough luck. I tried everything! Could it be rebuilt? After several calls to parts department, I demanded to talk to the service manager: "No we can't supply that part. No, we can't rebuild that part." I: "You're telling me your best customer needs this part, you can't help?" SM: "I can sell you a kit. Or, all the other port reliefs are identical, you just have to tighten the spring." After of weeks of frustration, the JD fix is $59. for the kit, or $259 for a valve I need to adjust! I would NOT have suffered that from Case.
I work a 97 310d with 25000 hours almost every day. It's old but it works I can fix it and it keeps working. I've been very impressed with the quality of the deeres. I also have a 2000 case 580l and while it's perfectly good the quality is not the same as the deere. 4wd is a necessity in my opinion, unless you're just doing municipal roadwork or something. I'd buy the 93 deere without a second thought. Not even think twice I'd just do it. If it turns on, pushes, lifts, steers and stops, go for it.
Everyone thinks you have to have 4wd. I don't. I have a 4wd and 2wd. Yes the 4wd can be handy. But I do alot of stuff with the 2wd, even plow snow. Most of you weight is on the back axle, with that heavy backhoe on the back. Both the ones you mention seems like too high hours to me.
If the JD seems good when you check it out I say go for it. If its a hobby machine how many hours are you really going to put on it? I've had my 310C since about 2008 and have put about 500-600 hours on it, same thing, a hobby machine. At that rate I'll be long gone before its houred out.
I'd qualify that with Where do you live? I've owned one 2 wheel drive, three 4x4. I live in VT where very little land is level. I spent too much time putting tire chains on the 2 wheel drive! A loader with no front drive will dig holes in the ground with the rear tires. Next scoop you have to climb out of a hole & scoop at the same time. Another essential for me is torque converter. I want some slip when scooping from a gravel bank. Is the Case a three lever control with foot swing? I don't care for that.
Hi willie, yes 3 lever.. I have run them before but any 2 stick hoe is also very convenient. Not enough burden to sway me as I won’t really be using the machine all that much like someone else said it’s a hobby/toy. My yard is a hill with very few flat places. The machine is primarily going to be used to make flat places.
Welcome to HEF, RitchieO ! I don't think 4wd is necessary for part time / hobby use machine. Super convenient to have when its needed, for sure. Especially loading out of stockpiles. It can be very expensive to repair if the need arises. There is more to the assembly than just the front axle. I don't need 4 wd because I never use my T/L/B in inclement weather. Except for snow removal. When loading the front bucket and I need a hard push I use first gear.
Just looked at the JD.. what a difference from the older 580c, even has working lights/windshield wipers.. when I first started running the hoe, (<1minute of the machine running) the extandahoe was like a slinky going in and out if you bounced it but after working it for a minute it became normal. The machine hasn’t run since March supposedly and a slow crank due to the low battery but nothing terrible. Nothing out of whack as far as fluids, Even the fuel gauge works in this thing, seems like a no brainer. The only things are a low front tire, broken boom release cable. When I picked the machine up using the boom fully extended and pushed down the machine lifted using the front bucket as a pivot and took the tears about a foot off the ground. After releasing the control it sank down should it hold? That’s a lot of pressure I’m sure. Also I discovered an “aux hydraulic” 3 position toggle, off middle and the final position made a sound like I was trying to lift something too heavy. Any insight is to what this is? It’s in the picture if I can figure out how to attach it.
As you found out, there is huge difference in the two machines. I for one would be buy the JD even tho you may be spending some serious cash to get it in dependable working condition. If you have the boom extended straight out I am amazed it will raise the tires off the ground. With the boom and dipper on the ground at a 90 ° angle the boom should raise the entire back end off the ground and hold it that way. The bouncing you mention may be due to air in the cylinder.
also I believe the last 580c was 1978
Case had simultaneous models. 580K was built in USA simultaneously with the 580G made (I think) in Italy? Don't know the range of the C. A few models between the C & K in 1987.
1980 was the last year also the first year of the 580D
Just looking in my old serial # field guide